Is Deon ok for a baby boy??

[LouisaB1990]

I love this name I really want to use it but I'm worried its silly.
He will be biracial & we are thinking Deon James

The only Deon I know is a boy and we live in the North West. I've known him so long that I couldn't imagine it as a girl's name.

A quick google shows that both Deon and Dion are accepted spellings for a boy. The girl's version would be Dionne

I wouldn't bother too much about opinions of family/friends. They'll soon learn to love it

I love it, and spelled that way too.

I know bi-racial twin boys, think they're around 16 years old now, one called Rio, the other Deon.

I associate that name with them, and they are gorgeous boys.

oops, forgot to add I definitely think of a boys name when I see/hear it.

Dionne to me would be the girls equivalent.

Nice name.
I prefer Dion though.

Deon is lovely.

I love Deon... Adding that to my list for DS

There's also Devon

If you are from the North the pronounciation of "Dante" might be a bit weird i.e Dant-eh, (think Trac-eh Barlow...). Deon avoids that problem.

Dant-eh is correct, surely, unless I'm misunderstanding the 'eh'. I would say Dant-ay, isn't that the same? It's Italian in origin, so Dant-ee would sound wrong to me.

Dante would be fine in any accent. Bit pretentious though n'est pas?

I've known a male Dion and a female Dionne. I think it's a lovely name for both sexes. I do prefer the spelling Dion but probably because I've never seen it as Deon before now.

Ivory, the RP pronounciation of the name is "Dantay", with a short "a" and the end sounding like stay, play, day etc. The Italian has a shorter "e" sound of course. What I am envisaging is the Northern nasal heavily-accented way of saying "ay" - think of the Gallagher brothers saying "Andy" for example.

It's a very snobbish point .

Those distinctions are way too fine to trouble me. Any name can sound awful in the wrong accent.

Deion is a really popular welsh boys name.

I love Dante though.

It makes me think of Dion Dublin. its nice, and not too out there.